Physical Sciences

Super-stretchable Yarn is Made of Graphene
Strong, stretchable fibers made of graphene oxide can be knotted like yarn. Image: Terrones group/Penn State
Photos of New Comet Approaching a Very Close Encounter with Mars
his composite of Comet Sliding Spring (C/2013 A1) merges images taken between May 27 and May 29, 2014 with the Ultraviolet Optical telecsope (UVOT) on the NASA's Swift satellite. Sunlight reflected from the comet's dust, which produces most of the light in this image, appears yellow. Ultraviolet light produced by hydroxyl (OH), a molecular fragment of water, appears violet in this image. Credit: NASA/Swift/D. Bodewits (UMD), DSS.
NASA Ranks Swift Satellite Number One
Artist rendering of the Swift satellite. Credit: NASA, Sonoma State University, Aurore Simonnet
Harry Allcock Elected a Member of the National Academy of Engineering
Harry Allcock
Groh Receives Two Major Schreyer Honors College Awards
X-Ray Satellite Delivers Surprising New Clues about Formation of Clusters of Sun-like Stars
An important advance in understanding how clusters of stars like our Sun are formed has been made by a team that includes seven Penn State astronomers. One of the clusters that the astronomers studied is shown in this image. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State/K.Getman, E.Feigelson, M.Kuhn & the MYStIX team; Infrared:NASA/JPL-Caltech
Star Is Discovered To Be a Close Neighbor of the Sun and the Coldest of Its Kind
This image is an artist's conception of the brown dwarf WISE J085510.83-071442.5. The Sun is the bright star directly to the right of the brown dwarf. Credit: Robert Hurt/JPL, Janella Williams/Penn State University.
Solved: Mysteries of a Nearby Planetary System's Dynamics
An illustration of the orbital distances and relative sizes of the four innermost planets known to orbit the star 55 Cancri A (bottom) in comparison with planets in own inner Solar System (top). Both Jupiter and the Jupiter-mass planet 55 Cancri are outside this picture, orbiting their host star with a distance of nearly 5 astronomical units (AU), where one AU is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Credit: Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, Penn State University
First Earth-Size Planet Is Discovered in Another Star's "Habitable Zone"
This artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f ,the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone -- a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface. Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech
Abercrombie and Krecko Named 2014 Spring Commencement Student Marshals
Daniel Abercrombie and Laura Krecko were selected to represent the Eberly College of Science as student marshals at spring commencement
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